Charleston vs. Savannah

No reason to wage this war between the greats

November 09, 2008|By Story by Toni Salama, SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE

Savannah.

Charleston.

Don't ever get the idea that visiting one is the same experience as visiting the other. Just to put one name before the other sets you in the midst of a centuries-old rivalry. Charleston is undeniably the elder, founded in 1670, though it would relocate before the turn of that century. Savannah didn't come along until 1733. Yet both cities proudly claim themselves as the first in America to lay its streets in the modern grid pattern, as opposed to the winding lanes common in European towns.

Sure, both started as outposts in what would become the original 13 colonies. Both were firebrands of rebellion, first against the British during the Revolutionary War, then against the Union during the War Between the States.

Both are Atlantic ports that have outlived pirates, slave trading, epidemics, earthquakes, fires and hurricanes to welcome vacationers today with charming historic districts, fine restaurants, boutique shopping and an almost endless choice of ghost tours.

Charleston.

Savannah.

Each has the warmest hospitality, the laziest carriage rides, the refreshing-est sweet tea, the award-winning-est historic inns, the haute-est Lowcountry cuisine. Each is the most haunted. But that doesn't mean they're alike, not by a long shot. There's more separating Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C., than a state line and the hundred or so miles between them.

Here's to the differences that make each city the only star in its heaven.

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2 CITIES BY THE SEA

SAVANNAH: Flowers, fountains and even some ghosts, all wrapped up in Spanish moss

By Toni Salama, Special to the Tribune

SAVANNAH, GA. -- With due respect to Savannah's hospitality and history, the one feature that really makes Savannah, Savannah is the presence of its monumental live oaks hung with Spanish moss. Everything about Georgia's first township takes place within their framework.

Just try to imagine the city without them. You can't. They shade every building, grace every square and figure in the city's contribution to American folk sayings. "Good night, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite" originated here, say Savannah's wags, when settlers stuffed their mattresses with the moss, only to learn the hard way that it was full of chiggers.

They also say that colonial Georgia started out with four no-nos: no rum, no lawyers, no Catholics and no slaves. But it didn't take long for those prohibitions to fall by the wayside.

Held some four years by the British during the Revolutionary War, Savannah was famously spared less than a century later during the Civil War. The Confederate city's beauty so moved Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman that, rather than putting it to the torch, he instead made a Christmas present of it in 1864 to President Lincoln -- or Mrs. Lincoln, depending, on who's telling the story.

Much of that beauty is still preserved in what is now one of the country's largest National Historic Landmarks. Twenty-one of the city's original 24 squares -- set with fountains or statues or park benches or banks of azaleas -- are spaced every couple of blocks, making strolling here a delightful walk of discovery. Even the sound of carriage rides is different here, muted, because the horses are shod with rubber shoes instead of iron.

Boo! Y'all

Cynics have smirked that Savannah never had a "ghost problem" until recent years, when the living found a way to turn hauntings into a cottage industry of guided tours. Believers, in contrast, trace the city's supernatural history back at least as far as the slave trade, when Africans painted ceilings, doors, window frames and porches "haint" blue to keep evil spirits at bay.

I'm not sure I'd go as far as the American Institute of Parapsychology in naming Savannah America's Most Haunted City. But I confess that I experienced a certain manifestation during a ghost tour. Entities seemed to be sitting in rocking chairs on a second-story porch. As our group walked beneath them in the twilight, one raised a Georgia accent in greeting: "Boo! Y'all. We're not really here. Just pretend you didn't see us." Its fellow ghosts giggled and kept on rocking.

Hey! Y'all

Speaking of cottage industries, Savannah's celebrity chef Paula Deen is one in and of herself. Her rags-to-riches story as a restaurateur and TV personality have fans crowding narrow West Congress (between Whitaker and Bernard) throughout the day to make, and then keep, reservations at The Lady & Sons restaurant. When it's time to eat, hosts address everyone with a hearty "Hey! Y'all," Deen's own signature greeting, and start yelling names to be seated. If the process seems rather like a cattle call, the meal more than makes up for the humiliation. You can order from the menu if you want, but don't make the mistake of automatically avoiding the buffet. Fried chicken and mashed potatoes never came so close to heaven as they do here.